CSU System would restrict Hughes Stadium housing to employees, students if built

Editor’s note: After this story’s publication, the CSU System said in a statement that while the letter from the Colorado Attorney General’s office spells out a scenario in which the System would use SPAR to develop the property, the CSU System Board of Governors has not yet made a decision on whether or not to go ahead with that development.

DENVER and FORT COLLINS — The Colorado Attorney General’s office said the Colorado State University System has the right to develop the Hughes Stadium land using a provision in state law and would restrict any new developments there to its employees and students, a position that may complicate negotiations with the city over the property’s future.

In a letter submitted to Fort Collins’ staff and City Council last week, the Colorado Attorney General’s office said the CSU System is in the process of ending its contract to sell the 161-acre property to Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) and develop the property according to previously-described plans.

The Attorney General’s office is required to represent state entities, including the CSU System, in legal matters.

The letter also said the housing slated for the property would be restricted to CSU employees and students.

“With the updated information provided by this correspondence, which clarifies that under its Site Plan the Board of Governors owns and will continue to own the Hughes Property development and that the occupancy of the residential units will be limited to qualified CSU employees or students, the SPAR process applies in accord with the express terms of the City Code and Colorado law,” the letter read.

The letter is dated April 8, just two days after Fort Collins voters overwhelmingly directed the city to zone the property as open space and to try to acquire it from CSU. That ballot initiative came months after the city council failed to rezone the property for development in a rare tie last May amid months of intense opposition to any construction on the land nestled along the foothills leading to Horsetooth Reservoir.

After that May vote, CSU said it would use a Site Plan Advisory Review, or SPAR, to relegate Fort Collins officials to an advisory capacity on any new developments rather than seek their approval. The SPAR process allows state government entities to build on land they own without requiring approval from the city or county that would normally have the power to approve or deny development.

Opponents to development have argued that CSU couldn’t invoke SPAR since its original plans to sell the property to Lennar fell outside the requirements that any SPAR-approved development be used as a public building.

CSU said it would spin out construction in the area to third-party organizations, as it has for other campus buildings in the past.

The most recent proposal from CSU would create up to 662 homes split between single-family homes, duplexes, townhomes and apartments, along with a child care facility, transit hub, urgent care center, commercial space and about 70 acres of open space.

It’s not clear how CSU’s plans would affect negotiations between it and the Fort Collins City Council with several new members. Fort Collins City Manager Darin Atteberry recently told BizWest that he expects full negotiations to begin in May.

Representatives for Lennar and PATHS, the lead advocacy group for keeping the Hughes Stadium property as open space, did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

A spokesperson for the CSU System declined to comment, saying that its election night statement remains its official position. 

Representatives of the city of Fort Collins said they had not yet seen the letter and declined to comment.

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